The First Five Years in the Reorganization of Aboveground Biomass and Nutrient Use Following Hurricane Hugo in the Bisley Experimental Watersheds, Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico

Abstract

Five years after Hurricane Hugo reduced the aboveground biomass by 50 percent in two forested watersheds in the Luquillo Experimental Forest of Puerto Rico, regeneration and growth of survivors had increased the aboveground biomass to 86 percent of the pre-hurricane value. Over the 5 yr, the net aboveground productivity averaged 21.6 Mg.ha-1 yr-' and was faster than most plantations and secondary forests in the area. Woodfall and associated nutrient fluxes never attained pre-storm values but by the fifth yr, mean daily total litterfall, and N, P, K, Ca, and Mg fluxes in litterfall were 83, 74, 62, 98, 75, and 81 percent of their pre-disturbance values, respectively. Aboveground nutrient pools of these nutrients ranged from 102 to 161 percent of their pre-disturbance values and were larger after 5 yr because of higher nutrient concentrations in the regeneration compared to the older wood that it replaced. The following sequence of ecosystem reorganization during this first 5 yr period is suggested. An initial period of foliage production and crown development occurred as hurricane survivors re-leafed and herbaceous vegetation and woody regeneration became established. During this period, 75 to 92 percent of the nutrient uptake was retained in the aboveground vegetation and there was a relatively low rate of aboveground carbon accumulation per mole of nutrient cycled. This initial period of canopy development was followed by a peak in aboveground productivity that occurred as early successional species entered the sapling and pole stages. This period was followed by the establishment of the litterfall nutrient cycle and an increase in the net productivity per mole of nutrient cycled. During this 5 yr period, the Bisley forest had some of the lowest withinstand nutrient-use-efficiencies and some of the highest levels of aboveground productivity ever observed in the LEE The study demonstrates that high levels of productivity and rapid rates of aboveground reorganization can be achieved with rapid within-system cycling and inefficient within-stand nutrient use.